Posted by Elizabeth on February 14, 2002, at 16:56:17
In reply to Re: withdrawing from sleeping pill addiction at home? » Elizabeth, posted by lou pilder on February 11, 2002, at 13:51:39
Lou,
I think that it's important to get one's information from different sources, if possible. I read up on Ambien and asked my pdoc about his experience with it before I started taking it. I decided to try it precisely because of its differences from benzodiazepines (its only known mechanism of action is selective activation of one subtype of benzodiazepine receptor). I continued to be interested in it after I started taking it, and I took note of my own response to it. Finally, I listened to other people's remarks about it, on boards like this one and in RL support groups. I think this has given me a fairly good idea of what the typical effects of Ambien are. As I've said, my impression has been that withdrawal symptoms, if any, consist mainly of rebound insomnia, and that this is generally brief. That doesn't mean that nobody has bad withdrawal reactions, but they are the exception, not the rule. Similarly, tolerance is very rare. In contrast, I wouldn't recommend benzodiazepines for long-term insomnia, as a rule; people who take benzos for very long tend to become tolerant to their sedating effects, and discontinuing benzos after long-term use can be difficult and even potentially dangerous (although it's quite possible to do it safely as long as you exercise some patience).
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:93431
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020208/msgs/94146.html